Boats, storms, and rockets
There were a lot of people making similar declarations last year:
“We’re in this together.”
It was their attempt at social unity during those unprecedented times. But it soon became apparent we weren’t all in this together, if “we” meant everyone on Earth. Why? Because the gulf between rich and poor grew even deeper as corporations like Amazon and Apple earnt billions as more people fell further below the poverty line.
Then I remember seeing varations of the following phrase:
“We’re all in the same storm but we’re not in the same boat.”
That made a lot more sense. The rich were in their yachts (figuratively and literally) while everyone else was struggling to get through in their proverbial sailboats, weather-beaten and close to destruction.
But as time has gone on and multi-billionaires trade their boats for spaceships, I begin to wonder… are they even in the same storm now? Yeah, there are vaccines and—depending on what country and demographic you observe—vaccination rates are increasing but the pandemic is still here, infection rates are increasing again, and things are opening up at the same time. This is still not a relaxing time. But those rich white dudes are flying into space while we struggle. They’re literally leaving the storm and I don’t think they were ever in it.